Shopping carts found in retail establishments generally include a child seat that is part of the rear panel of the shopping cart basket. A back support panel is attached to the rear panel, usually on the inside of the basket, thereby reducing the carrying capacity of the shopping cart. A fold down seat portion traverses the back support panel and the rear panel to form the child set proximate the upper portion of the rear panel. Generally, the seat is arranged so that the child's legs extend through openings in the back panel. Airport luggage carts have a similar seat arrangement. However, luggage carts weigh less than a shopping cart and are therefore more prone to tip over.
The seats on shopping or luggage carts only have room for one child. Also, once a child reaches approximately 35 pounds, or is more than approximately 54" tall, the seat on these carts starts to be too small and uncomfortable for the child. Additionally, children older than approximately 3 years find these seats confining and often attempt to climb out. One approach is to provide a safety strap to retain the child in the cart seat. However, this approach does not address larger children who do not fit properly into the cart seat or parents that have more than one small child. Consequently, it is very common to see children riding in the basket portion of the shopping cart or standing on the front edge of the lower frame while gripping onto the basket portion, or standing on the luggage portion of a luggage cart. Moreover, conventional child seats on shopping carts are not appropriate for adults.
Allowing a child to ride in the basket portion of the shopping cart has proven to be extremely dangerous. The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission reported 12,000 hospital emergency room head injuries in 1988 along, to children under 5 years of age primarily due to children falling from shopping carts. Approximately one third of these head injuries were concussions, fractures or internal injuries. (See Consumer Product Safety Alert from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, March 1990, which is hereby incorporated by reference.) In 1992, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that 22,920 children were treated in hospital emergency rooms for injuries related to shopping carts.
While old style shopping carts were constructed of metal, newer carts are utilizing more plastic parts, including plastic basket portions. Consequently, newer shopping carts weigh much less than the old style metal carts. Since the seat is generally on the upper portion of the rear panel of the basket portion, a larger child can significantly raise the center of gravity of the cart, especially when the cart is empty. Since it is common for parents to place a child weighing 30 pounds or more in the seat, the risk of tipping over the cart is substantial. The reported accidents also include injuries resulting from children tipping over the cart by rocking back and forth.
Another source of injury to children riding in shopping carts is other shoppers. The child's legs typically hang out of the seat at the rear of a conventional shopping cart. Arms and hands are often hanging over the edge of the basket. It is not uncommon for a child's limbs to be pinched between a portion of the shopping cart in which she is riding and another shopping cart or a stationary object.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,044,801 (Vicany) and 4,771,840 (Keller) disclose propelled shopping carts where the user rides external to the basket. U.S. Pat. Nos. Des. 318,550 (Stefano), 3,497,234 (Schray) and 5,312,122 (Doty) disclose a child carrier located external to the basket portion of the shopping cart. U.S. Pat. No. 2,420,088 discloses a child's cart with a box or trunk mounted at the front.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/732,963, filed Oct. 30, 1996 and U.S. Pat. No. Des. 357,105 disclose a child carrier accessory attachable to a shopping cart with a seat having a low center of gravity.